


Nothing Personal

by teacup_of_doom



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU for season two, AU for the end of Nothing Personal, And then went a bit serious from there., Apparent adoption of scientists, Duty, Gen, It started funny., Life Model Decoys, Mariah Hill is a snitch, May is a little late, Nick Fury is an undead zombie - but not really., Only one is Phil's., Rebuilding SHIELD can happen one of two ways., Zombie Apocalypse Protocol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 22:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2364647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teacup_of_doom/pseuds/teacup_of_doom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of Nothing Personal, things go a little differently. Maria Hill decides to look after Phil, or, rather, makes the decision to have someone else do so.  This changes the course of everything to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Personal

* * *

 

When Maria left the motel, Phil breathed a half-sigh of relief. She was leaving him - leaving the team - on their own. It wasn’t the best solution. Phil would have loved to have Maria at their backs. If he couldn’t have had SHIELD, Maria would have been a close second to May on the list of those Phil trusted to keep them from harm. At the same time, after everything that had happened, after T.A.H.I.T.I., Phil couldn’t bring himself to trust Maria as he once did. She had known what had been done to him, and had kept it from him. Was still keeping it from him.

What she’d said resonated with him though, mainly because she’d been right when she’d told him that “Tony would have you in a heartbeat.” If he went to Stark, he’d be under Stark Industry’s protection in minutes. (And probably never out of it ever again for as long as he lived, this second time.) Pepper might not forgive him as fast, but he would have bet that any grudge she might hold would not last for long.

Phil mentally took stock of his team, musing on how well they’d fit in at Stark Industries. FitzSimmons would fit right in. Stick them in one of Stark’s labs, with all the equipment they could dream of, and they’d be engrossed for years. Skye would be a good fit there too. Her brain, her computer expertise would be invaluable, both to Stark Industries and to Tony personally. And she’d be safe. Safer than Phil had been able to keep her. Skye wasn’t, he knew, one to sit peacefully on the sidelines. Then again, Skye reminded him of Tony, just slightly. Putting them together in the same room would either be a wonderful idea, or a bad one. They’d either agree to disagree, or take over the world.

Triplett might come. Phil had no idea what Stark would use the now ex-specialist for. Phil had no idea what Stark would use him for. May, if she came back, was a quandary too.

But it was a moot point. He’d been honest with Maria. Working for a private contractor was not his style, never had been. It’s why he’d stayed with SHIELD so long, when a non-governmental agency might have paid him far more. Other than that, he’d stayed with SHIELD because it was the same organization that Peggy Carter had helped found, the same organization that had it’s beginnings with Captain America, and he’d believed in its purpose, the one that even Hydra couldn’t completely destroy. He fit with SHIELD, with that life.

Even if, according to Maria, that life was over.

Looking out the window at his team, Phil decided that maybe it wasn’t. Maybe for it was for Maria, as the visible face of a destroyed institution, but not for him. Not for his people. They’d seen too much, done too much, to walk away with an easy heart and a clear conscience. Not for the hundreds of thousands of former SHIELD agents, still alive, still loyal, living in hiding.

They’d go on, if only because because they had nothing but each other.

Phil would lead them as best he could. Against Ward, against the new incarnation of HYDRA. It was the only thing he had left. The only useful thing he knew how to do.

He joined Skye and Triplett on the pool desk, taking some warmth from their banter. The candy bar he’d gotten from the vending machine with his last few dollars helped a little bit too. He leaned back against the vending machine, smiled as they teased one another. This evening felt like a catharsis. It was the first moment that they’d been able to stop moving. Stop running. If only for a little while.

May wasn’t here. But they’d find her. She was part of their team, or would be again, if she accepted Phil’s apologies.

He should have picked up the sound first, but it was Triplett who reacted first, probably because Phil had become familiar with the noise after all that time he’d spent in Malibu. Within seconds of the sound becoming a loud, high pitched whine, Triplett’s gun was out, pointed towards the sky. Fitzsimmons had gotten their feet out of the pool, standing, clutching at each other. Triplett gave a startled jerk, and Phil realized that it was because May was standing next to Triplett- _and when had she even gotten there?_

Phil had to put May’s ninja appearance to the side for a moment, and also had to internally stifle a curse towards the now absent Maria, because descending from the sky was an extremely familiar red and gold figure.

Iron Man settled onto the pool deck with an audible metallic clunk, the repulsors in his hands dying out when he was firmly on the ground. A second later, the metal visor clanked open to show Tony Stark’s somewhat serious expression. He opened his arms wide, and pointed at Phil. “You sir, are in big trouble.”

Phil couldn’t help the small smile on his face. “Maria told you.” He said, resigned.

“Uh, yeah she did. You should have told me sooner. Actually, you should have told everybody.” Tony said. “Or called. Phones still work, you know. Seriously, you could have just walked into the fucking Tower. ” He paused. “Wait,  I think Jarvis and I installed a zombie apocalypse protocol at some point while I was really, incredibly, drunk, and had been watching _The Walking Dead_ , so that legitimately might not have been a good plan.”

“Stark.” Phil said, amused, but not showing it.”

“Agent.” Tony replied back automatically. And then burst into a shit-eating grin. “Or should I call you Zombie? Admittedly, I would have been not surprised at all if you’d been a Life Model Decoy. That being said -”

“Tony.” Phil said again, deeply relieved that Tony was apparently taking the deception over his death a lot better than expected - or just looked as if he was. Anyone who’d seen Tony Stark confronted with is own feelings generally also noticed that his self-inflicted motor-mouth tended to spiral more out of control than normal.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Skye look at FitzSimmons, who just looked amusedly back. Triplett was obviously hiding - and failing - the urge to laugh, whereas May looked set to roll her eyes. “I had orders not to contact anyone.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “And? Lazarus, don’t even begin to think that makes a difference.” He went quiet, for a fleeting moment. “We avenged you, you know.” He said. “Yeah, we were supposed to Avenging New York, and all. But we did it for you.”

“I know.” Said Phil. What else could he say? “I made a choice, Tony. I know it didn’t exactly end well for me, but, I can’t really argue with the results.”

“Well, we do.” Tony retorted. “Legolas and Natalie especially. Don’t even get me started on Thor. He wanted to do some sort of Asgardian ritual of remembrance.”

“Would you really have come together, as a team, if I hadn’t done it?” Phil asked abruptly, not meaning to be.

It was harder than he thought, to see the anger cross Tony’s face at the question, and he rushed onward before Tony could say anything. “I’ve seen the footage, Tony. Would it have played out that way if I had stayed safely in the control room? Would you have let Cap give the orders? Trusted one another to watch each other’s backs? You needed a push. You all did. If I had to be that push, then I was ok with that.”

“There’s no way to know that we wouldn’t have come together!” Tony snapped back, losing a little bit of his cool. “You didn’t have to die to make that happen. And nobody else was ok with your death. Even Fury.”

“Clearly.” Phil said, in a tone that was something near sarcasm.

Tony was wrong about Phil needing to die to bring them together. He’d analyzed every possible scenario before making his decision. Phil had never thought that he would be the Avenger’s linchpin, but when it had come down to it, to that day, he wouldn’t reverse his decision. Not by a long shot.

Nick’s use of - whatever it had been - from the now destroyed Guest House to bring him back, was still something that Phil at odds with. It still didn’t explain why Nick hadn’t just let him die, no matter what he’d proclaimed as his reasoning.

There was silence by the pool.

“Can we stand down now?” Triplett asked, breaking the tension. “I’d really like not to shoot Iron Man.”

Tony turned his gaze to the specialist with some interest. “I agree, shooting me would be bad - mostly for me, I’m guessing. Who are you, anyway?”

Phil let his mouth twitch, turning to his team. “Team, stand down. Everyone,” he gestured to Tony. “Tony Stark. Tony, my team.”

Tony grinned at them all, as Triplett and May both put down their weapons. Phil continued. “These are agents May and Triplett. This is Skye, she’s our resident computer genius. Those are FitzSimmons.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at FitzSimmons. “Which one is which? Or does it matter, and you’re really a package deal?”

Fitz pointed to Simmons. “That’s Simmons, biochemistry.”

Simmons pointed to Fitz. “He’s Fitz, weapons and engineering.”

“We are a package deal.” Fitz added. He squeezed Simmon’s hand. “Sort of.’

Tony looked back to Phil. “Agent, you’ve adopted other scientists.” He put his hand over the arc reactor. “I am crushed. Bruce will be beside himself.”

Phil couldn’t help the small smile that broke through. “I doubt that.” He was slightly concerned that he’d be seeing Clint pop out of the bushes any second now. Then again, it was more likely that Natasha was around, but she would simply ambush him somewhere secluded. “Do the others know?”

Before Tony could answer, May spoke up. “Phil, can I talk to you for a minute?” She didn’t take her eyes off of Tony.

Phil looked at her, something in her tone of voice drawing his attention. She was covered in dirt, Phil now realized, not a lot, but there were dried spatters of it all over her clothes. May had left searching for something that might have changed his mind about trusting her. She was back, which meant that she’d found whatever it was looking for. And whatever it was trumped Tony Stark.

“Nobody else knows - yet.” Tony said, before Phil could answer May, drawing Phil’s attention back to the genius. “But I’m expecting that to change, real soon.”

“Tony.” Phil said, as sternly as he could manage. “I’d actually prefer if you didn’t tell them.”

Tony seemed to freeze. “What?”

“We’re going to rebuild SHIELD.” Phil said simply. Tony’s reaction did not bode well. “Direc- Nick made me the new director. I have a duty, and orders, to rebuild.”

“Rebuild SHIELD.” Tony said flatly. “On the orders of a dead man?”

“He’s not actually as dead as you’d think.” Phil said calmly.

“Oh course he’s not.” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes. “What duty do you have to do this? To Fury? He basically got you killed. Any orders he gave you should be invalid based on that alone.” He was getting angry, and took a step towards Phil. From the corner of his eye, Phil could see both May and Trip twitch, and while neither of them moved, they were clearly ready to defend Phil against any perceived threat.

“I have a duty.” Phil said, not budging an inch. “To the SHIELD agents who swore the oath to protect the innocent, the SHIELD agents who still believe in that oath, but are on the run from their own government. To those of us who are loyal and are being held captive by Hydra, to those who were _killed_ by Hydra for not submitting.” He breathed. “I have a duty to stop Hydra, because I believed in what SHIELD was, what SHIELD stood for. I believe that we can become what SHIELD should have been, without Hydra’s corruption in our midst.” More softly he said, “we have a duty to protect the world from a danger we didn’t know was there. The danger we should have known was there. Hydra wasn’t eradicated by what happened in DC. They’ve just gone back into the shadows. Hydra is going to come back, Tony. The world may not like it, but they need SHIELD. They need us. So yes, I am following Nick’s orders - and I’m doing it willingly. You can’t tell me it’s a bad reason.”

There was silence from behind Phil, but he could almost feel the current of support flowing from the team at his back.

Tony looked flummoxed for a minute, and then spoke. “Ok. Ok, ok ok. I get that. Believe me, I do. But it doesn’t have to be _your duty_. You _died once already_ doing that duty. You don’t deserve having this on your shoulders.”

“Tony.”

“ _I get it, Phil_. I’m trying to privatize world peace for fuck’s sake. I started this” he waved his hands at the suit he wore. “Because I think - because my work is out there, being used to kill people. In the hands of terrorists - in the hands of _Hydra_. Did you know that my stuff was used on the Hydracarriers?”

“And you’re angry.” Phil said, cutting him off. “You have every right to be. Yet, I think that it’s my duty, Tony, just like you do what you do out of a sense of duty, and I’m not going to back down. I’m going to rebuild SHIELD. Nick wanted me to do this, because he felt that I was the best one for the job. I’m not going to turn my back because it’s the easy way out.”

Tony was quiet again for a moment, his mouth twitching, though Phil wasn’t quite sure what was so funny, or if it was amusement at all, maybe frustration.

“Fine.” Tony said eventually, for all appearances, calmed down. “You’re going to rebuild SHIELD, on Nick -I’m a fucking undead pirate - Fury’s orders.”

“Yes.”

“I can help.”

“No.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You are planning to rebuild SHIELD with a not-so dirty not even half dozen of SHIELD agents, with no resources, while pretty much the governments of the world are hunting down SHIELD agents, and Hydra at your heels.”

“Nick left me a toolbox.” Phil said, deadpan. “We’ll manage.”

Tony was less than impressed. “A toolbox. Well, that’s great. Instead of that, you could have a secure financial backing, an army of lawyers, and a place a whole lot better than a crappy motel to crash.”

Phil could almost feel Skye’s eyebrows lift at the offer. Well, that was one of his team won over.

“Tony. The offer is a kind one, but -”

“Hill didn’t think I was a bad option.” Tony pointed out. “And she hates my guts.”

“Maria was also the very visible deputy director of SHIELD.” Phil countered. “She needed the protection.”

“Talbot wouldn’t be able to bother you.” Tony said. “He’s been trying to poke at SI for years.”

“We need to be in the shadows.” Phil said, trying to reason with him. “Right now, Hydra has more power than SHIELD does, both in manpower and in resources. We are starting small, any moves we make can’t be broadcast, because it’s the only way to keep us safe.”

“Or.” Tony countered again. “Exposure is exactly what you need. More information about Hydra in the open, sent out by the loyal survivors of SHIELD. So Hydra has less and less places to hide, and people start trusting in SHIELD again.”

“Hydra will just burrow deeper.”

“Then we chase them down the rabbit hole.” Tony rejoined rapidly. “Steve would follow you just to get to them, and you know it. Did you know that the Winter Soldier just so happened to be a brainwashed Bucky Barnes? Steve is pissed, and eager to do something about it.”

They were at an impasse, and they knew it.

Phil was very startled at the information, though he was trying desperately not to show it. _Bucky Barnes?_ The Bucky Barnes? As the _Winter Soldier_? That being said, he himself was a walking dead man and had personally seen Steve Rogers unfrozen from decades under ice, so just about anything was possible.

He was also having trouble pushing the idea of working with Captain America out of his mind.

Somehow, however, Tony knew he’d taken the hook, if not yet the bait. “Phil,” he said in a low tone. “You don’t have to go this alone. You could still be the director of SHIELD, in the shadows, and still side with us. You’ve got the Avengers behind you - will, at any rate.”

_I’m an Avenger too._ Something in the back of Phil’s mind reminded him of what Nick had said, but Phil squashed it quickly. The world couldn’t rely just on the Avengers. They were just one team.

Still, now there was a vision in his head that was trying to show Phil a world where what Tony was offering was possible - the Avengers with a gathering of SHIELD agents behind them, no Pierce, no World Security Council. Combined they could -

“I’ll think about it.” Phil said, breathing out after a moment, his head spinning. “I will. If I decide to take your offer, I’ll contact you.”

Tony cocked his head to one side, watched Phil for one long moment, and then nodded. “Peachy.” He said. The visor on the suit snapped shut. “But not good enough.”

There wasn’t enough warning. One second, the suit was on the ground, and a second later, it had powered up, and Tony hadn’t launched himself into the air, but had surged forward, wrapping Phil in a metallic bear hug, and Phil was hanging onto the billionaire for dear life.

“Put me down!” Phil yelled. Dimly, he could hear May and Triplett shouting.

“Not a chance, Agent.” Tony’s voice came back. “I’m sending a friend with a quinjet for your team. Team, pack your bags, you’re moving to New York in...half an hour. You’ll see Agent there.”

“Stark!” Phil tried to yell, but the suit had already propelled them - hundreds? - of feet from the ground, and the wind rushing past them made it hard to talk, let alone breathe.

“Hold on tight, Phil.” Tony said, his voice coming through the suit clearly, even though the wind. “We’ve got a long way to go.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  



End file.
